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NFL Plays Defense on Suits

'Bounty' Crackdown Comes as League Faces Legal Actions for Other Injuries

By

Matthew Futterman

Updated March 4, 2012 9:20 p.m. ET

In cracking down on the New Orleans Saints for allegedly condoning so-called bounties to team members who injured opponents, the National Football League is bolstering its record for protecting the safety of its players.

But the action comes as scores of retired players are suing the NFL in federal court, alleging it ignored warnings that multiple concussions were causing long-term brain damage and depression. (The league is fighting the suits vigorously.)

On Friday, the NFL announced that after an investigation it had concluded that players and other members of the Saints organization were giving out cash rewards for injuring opponents. In a statement Friday, Saints owner
Tom Benson
said he was cooperating with the investigation and looks "forward to putting this behind us and winning more championships."

"The system of bounties has been going on for decades," asserted Larry Coben, a lawyer representing about 60 former players suing the league. He called the league's action "a bit too little and too late."

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"The noncontract bonus rule and its enforcement are not new," said
Greg Aiello,
an NFL spokesman, referring to league rules prohibiting rewards for injuring opponents. "When allegations are made, we have always followed up to determine if there is evidence of violations."

While numerous players have said recently that bounties have been a common, well-known part of pro football for years, people familiar with league operations said NFL investigators never had concrete information about bounties they felt they could prove.

They decided to go after the Saints because they finally got evidence, the people said.

The NFL first received information about the Saints' alleged bounty system late in the 2009 season and during that year's playoffs. According to the people familiar with the probe, investigators for the league pursued the case, but everyone the league questioned denied it, and the person who had tipped the league off to the behavior changed his story.

The people said investigators didn't request access to franchise communications at that time or pursue the matter further. However, when the league received more concrete information this past season, investigators confronted the Saints owner and decided to take a far more aggressive approach.

Mr. Benson agreed to turn over thousands of pages of documents voluntarily, the people said. According to league officials, they spent the past several months reviewing some 50,000 pages of e-mails and other forms of communication, as well as interviewing multiple witnesses.

The documents allegedly showed the team operated a bounty system during the past three seasons. According to the people, players would be fined for mistakes or poor plays, the money would go into a pot, and then it would be distributed for hard hits that knocked opponents out of games, with payments into and out of the pot tracked throughout the seasons.

In a first-person account in the Chicago Tribune on Sunday,
Matt Bowen,
a former Washington Redskins defensive back, described a similar system at that team. And in an interview, ESPN analyst
Damien Woody,
a former offensive lineman, also said the bounties were widespread. "A lot of people and a lot of teams across the league do this," he said.

"The question is whether the league was condoning or tolerating a plan that was contributing to these injuries," said
Gabe Feldman,
director of the Sports Law Program at Tulane University Law School. "Apparently the league informed Benson, Benson told the general manager to stop it, and it didn't [stop], so perhaps there is only so much a league can do. But then the question becomes, did they take reasonable action?"

A person with knowledge of the situation said the players association wasn't informed about the investigation and would ask to see all the relevant documents in the case.

Charley Casserly,
the former general manager of the Washington Redskins, said that despite widespread claims that informal bounty arrangements have existed in the league for decades, he never had any direct knowledge of their existence at any of his teams or at other teams in the league.

The NFL hasn't issued fines or penalties. People with knowledge of his plans said NFL Commissioner
Roger Goodell
is waiting to see if additional players and coaches come forward with evidence or information before taking action.